Becoming Visible
A Reader in Gay and Lesbian History
for High School and College Students
edited by Kevin Jennings, 1994 To many youth, it appears that gays and lesbians are oddities, freaks, alone. Much of what they learn in school is heterosexist. Teachers who seek to teach about gays and lesbians in the past and present, when not censored, find that the lack of material geared towards youth is prohibitive. This book is meant primarily to provide a text for teachers, and only secondly to educate the general public. Each of seventeen chapters provides an introduction to a particular topic, exerpts of writings on that topic, and then a list of questions and activites designed to promote the understanding and sensitivity of students. Topics range from berdaches and the Stonewall riots to the bisexuality of ten successive Chinese rulers and the affect of World War II on the American Gay/Lesbian identity.
The selection of topics seems somewhat skewed towards presenting gay rights. That is, the topics are either about the fight for gay rights or the acceptibility of gays to straights. Aspects of gay or lesbian culture are never really discussed- and the simple definition of
queen or
camp might significantly add to this book. Although Jennings acknowledges that gay rights did not equate to lesbian rights in represive atmospheres, that the gay and lesbian community are still seperate(although related) is not something a casual reader would understand from this book. The activities suggested are more reasonable than the questions. The very first reading is designed to make readers think, but may not be appropriate for high school students, as it assumes that the reader is already certain of his own sexual orientation, which many high school students are not.
Pleasant reading.
